Atrous Vale
by DeepSixing
Summary: [DH SPOILERS]Title subject to change. Takes place the moment Snape dies. Follow him as he journeys through the afterlife to find the one he loves.


**A/N: The idea for this just sort of...popped into my head. So I thought I'd write it and see where it goes...I think I might even take out the Snape-Factor and turn this into original fiction. I'll see how it goes with the S/L plot, though.  
**

"Look…at…me," he whispered.

Black eyes found green, and then all was at peace. Snape could feel his body no more. He felt nothing. He could see, but he did not know how, for it wasn't through his eyes. He watched Harry Potter, staring down at him. This new vision was fuzzy, and white blurriness wrapped around the edges of it.

He quickly found that he could not hear, for Harry, Ron and Hermione jumped at a sound that was inaudible to him. After a moment of stiff listening, the three left, leaving Snape alone.

He could not figure out this awareness he had. He knew he was dead; he knew that he could no longer control his body. But…he could see. He could think. The feeling was utterly blissful; he felt at peace…albeit confused.

Suddenly, Snape noticed a white light appear and come floating silently down. It landed gently onto Snape's cold body, sinking into his chest. All of a sudden, he felt a pull. He couldn't pinpoint where, but it seemed to lift him up. The white light rose back out from inside him. It seemed to be moving more erratically than before, and Snape saw it was because a silvery-white substance was attached to it, and being lifted as well. Snape's soul.

The pulling was stronger, and soon Snape's vision told him that he his entire soul was now rising and floating away. He did not allow himself to look back at his body. The sight would surely disturb him.

Higher and higher, he rose. He went straight through the walls of the Shrieking Shack, and now looked at the crumpling castle that was once Hogwarts. Debris was scattered all over the grounds, and a few bodies were scattered about. Snape caught sight of McGonagall running to one of the bodies. She lifted the person into her arms, sobbing and cradling the dead man. Snape strained to see who this man was, but the white blurriness was getting worse and he could barely see.

The identity of the man was revealed, however, when Snape watched McGonagall leap up and stagger over to another body. McGonagall collapsed again, completely overwhelmed, reaching out to stroke the bright pink hair of the dead woman.

Still rising higher, everything began to turn white. Like a bright light suddenly shining in your face, it bled from the middle, to the outside of his vision. He still felt the pull, but where he was going, he could only guess.

After some time passing—he couldn't tell how long—the white began to face to color once more.

He found himself in a room. He was standing—he was back in his body. The room was round and bright with marble floors and an extremely high ceiling. There were three doors. They were identical, but Snape somehow already knew where each one lead.

The first one was for those who wished to become ghosts. The door led back to the living world.

The second door was for those who wished to remain a spirit, and exist in the afterlife.

The third was for those who were at peace. They would become one with the earth and then reincarnate in due time.

Snape knew he did not want to be a ghost. That much was certain. There was nothing left for him on the earth.

He did not want to be a spirit forever, but he wasn't ready to completely pass on. He wanted to see people…he wanted to see Lily…

Just then, there was a slight breeze. Snape felt it push his hair slightly forward, tickling his neck. He turned. Standing behind him, hand in hand, were Lupin and Tonks. They smiled sadly and walked past him, into the middle door. Snape took a deep breath and followed.

He immediately regretted doing so. The door he had come from disappeared, and he was now standing in the middle of a dark village. The cobblestones were all dark, almost black. It was nighttime, and the streetlights glowed in an ominous orange color. All of the houses were made of dark wood, and very few lights were on inside. Snape got the impression that daytime did not exist here.

Lupin and Tonks were nowhere in sight. Snape felt around for his wand—but it was gone. Feeling utterly vulnerable, Snape began to walk. He didn't know where he was going; he let his feet decide. After a few minutes of blindly walking, he stopped in front of a tall building that was so old Snape literally watched as pieces of chipped wood fell from the third story. Snape looked at the front door. It had the words "**New Resident Check-In"** sloppily carved into the rotting wood. Snape pushed open the door and entered.

The place was dark. He heard the door slam behind him and then the room was pitch black. The air was thick and sour. Snape thought that now, being dead, he would not have to breathe and therefore not have to smell the putrid odor, but when he tried to hold his breath, he could only hold if for a half a minute, before he felt weak and had to gasp for air. _What was this place?_

As though answering his question, a dull orange glow emerged from a staircase that Snape had not realized was there. Someone, Snape could not tell if he was a human, carried a lantern down the steps and stood in front of him.

It was a short man. He could have easily passed as a goblin, except his body structure was that of a human. His ears were long, and his lobes nearly touched his chin. The man's nose was extremely large and his eyes were buggy and bloodshot. When he spoke, his voice was raspy, and Snape half expected to see dust come flying out of his mouth.

"This place is called Atrous Vale," he said. "My name is Mortifer Sable. I suppose you need checking in?"

"Y-yes," Snape felt as though he hadn't spoken in years. He cleared his throat. "Where—where is everyone?"

Mortifer looked up into Snape's eyes. "The afterlife is comprised of many different towns and villages," he began. "When you entered through that second door, all of your good and bad deeds were summed up, calculated, and you were then placed in a village, based upon the results."

"My results?" Snape asked. "How ba—how were they?" This place was no Heaven.

The old man smiled, revealing a set of yellow and brown teeth. "Let's just say you could have done worse." Snape's face fell. _That's not funny._ "However," Mortifer continued, "each village has its own qualities—good and bad. How much one outweighs the other depends on your results. Atrous Vale has a good number of unappealing qualities. Actually, there are almost _no_ appealing qualities." Mortifer gave a nervous smile. "Atrous Vale was meant to feel claustrophobic and lonely. It is rare that you will come into contact with a lot of people here. The town changes its layout every ten minutes. You never know where anything is, except your home and the Resident Check-In—this building. You never run into the same person twice."

"I—That sounds awful."

"Yes, but you'll get used to it, I should think." Mortifer seemed to be in deep thought, as though remembering the time when he had to get used to it. "Well, anyway. Check-In. You are—" He pulled out a roll of parchment. "Severus Snape! Oh…I'm so sorry. That must have hurt…" Mortifer stared at Snape's neck.

Snape felt his throat with his hand. There were two deep scars in his neck. They felt bruised, but otherwise completely healed.

Mortifer cleared his throat. "Right, well, anyway. Here is your information and complementary book on everything you nee to know. Good day!" He shoved a stack of papers and a hardcover book into Snape's hands. Mortifer turned to leave, but Snape called him back.

"Wait! Will I be able to contact you?"

Mortifer stared at him. "You never run into the same person twice. Good luck, Severus." And he disappeared in a cloud of orange light.

"Wait!" Snape looked around. The room was dark once more. It was thick and so black he couldn't even see his hand in front of him. He turned, feeling dizzy as he did so. He couldn't see anything.

"Lumos!" He shouted out of pure desperation. Nothing happened.

His eyes hurt from trying to open them as wide as he could. He could feel his pupils straining to open wider. Snape began to walk randomly. The exit had to be somewhere… He felt extremely dizzy. Finally reaching a wall, he pressed himself against it. He slumped to the ground and felt the floor. The claustrophobia was already sinking in. He began to shake from fear.

Getting onto his hands and knees, Snape started to crawl. He crawled until he found himself up against another wall. No, this wasn't a wall. It was a step. He was at the stairs. The exit was right across from the stairs, so all he had to do was crawl to the left…

Snape let out a long sigh as he ran his hands over the door, searching for the handle. Finally, he grasped it, swinging the door open to reveal the black and orange glow of Atrous Vale.


End file.
